Orchard Hill wins JoeBarry Memorial Cup; Facundo Pieres scores 12 goals
By Alex Webbe
The final of the 2015 20-goal Joe Barry Memorial Cup was justfast-paced, smash-mouth battle it was expected to be with Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni,Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) facing Orchard Hill(Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller).
Between Orchard Hill and Villa Del Lago, they had two of thebest ball control artists in the game. Orchard Hill boasted the talents of 10-goaler Facundo Pieres while VillaDel Lago saddled up with 9-goaler Polito Pieres (recently elevated to 10-goals inArgentina). The Argentine cousins were high-scoringmachines that regularly carried the ball through seemingly impassable defensesto score. The question would be, “Whichcousin was going to outscore the other in Sunday’s final”.
Orchard Hill’s Facundo Pieres opened the scoring with theconversion of a 60-yard penalty shot, 1-0, in the first 80 seconds ofplay. Julian de Lusarreta responded witha goal from the field two minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. Polito Pieres scored ona30-yard penalty shottwo minutes later to give the lead to Villa Del Lago, 2-1. Facundo Pieres leveled the score at 2-2 scoringthe final goal of the period with just43sweconds on the clock.
The pace continued to heat up as the second chukker gotunderway. De Lusarreta scored for Villa Del Lago with just 32 seconds off theclock, 3-2, followed by a 40-yard penalty goal from Polito Pieres at the 5:41mark for a 4-2 lead. Facundo Pieresscored a goal from the field with Polito and Facundo exchanging penalty goalsto close the chukker with Villa Del Lago in the lead, 5-4.
Facundo Pieres tied it at 5-5 in the opening 30 seconds ofthe third chukker with a beautifully-executed neck shot. PolitoPieres took the lead back for Villa Del Lago, 6-5, at the 4:17 mark. Facundo Pieres ended the chukker withconsecutive penalty goals from 40-ardsand 60-yards for a 7-6 halftime lead forOrchard Hill.
The pace continued to quicken as the second half of playbegan. The ball moved up and down thefield at breakneck speed with both Facundo and Polito giving an exhibition ofball handling on the polo field. PolitoPieres was the first to score in the fourth chukker with a tying goal, 7-7, inthe opening minute of the period. A goalfrom the field from de Lusarreta was followed by a penalty goal from PolitoPieres as the Villa Del Lago lead grew to two goals, 9-7. PolitoPieres scored a goal from the field as Villa Del Lago continued to beat up on astagnant Orchard Hill offense. Villa Del Lago led by three goals, 10-7, withtime running out. Orchard Hill teamcaptain Steve Van Andel scored the final goal of the chukker with just 38seconds on the clock. Villa Del Lago rodeoff the field at the end of the fourth on top of a 10-8 score.
Facundo Pieres went on a tear in the fifth chukker, scoring theopening goal on a 30-yard penalty conversion in the opening seconds of play, 10-9. Facundo followed up less than a minute laterwith a 130-yard neck shot for a goal and then took the ensuing throw-in andraced 150-yards down the field to score the go-ahead goal, 11-10. Facundo Pieres scored his fourth consecutivegoal from a melee in front of the Villa Del Lago goal12-10. Polito Pieres and Lucas Criado traded goalsto end the chukker with Orchard Hill in the possession of a 13-11 advantage.
Polito Pieres cut the Orchard Hill lead down to 13-12 with agoal in the opening minute of the sixth chukker. Criado got the goal back lessthan two minutes later, 14-12. De Lusarretascored to bring Vila Del Lago to within a goal of the lead, 14-13, but Orchard Hillwas not going to let the game slip away from them. With 2:11 on the clock, Facundo Pieres scoredthe final goal of the game for the 15-13 victory.
English 6-goaler MarkTomlinson has played against both Facundo and Polito and had some observations fromthe sidelines.
“Polito probably has the best stick work of all the topplayers”, said English internationalist Mark Tomlinson. “His close ball controland skills are phenomenal,” he added. “Facundois a serious winner and that’s what most strikes you when you play against him,”he said. “When he needs to turn it onhe can. I was fortunate enough to be on the winning Halcyon Gallery teamagainst Facundo playing for Zacara in the 2014 British Gold Cup quarterfinals,”he said. ”It’s going to be interesting watchingthe winter season unfold.”
Facundo Pieres scored 12 goals in the game (five on penaltyconversions) and was named MVP for his efforts. Criado was credited with twogoals and Van Andel added a goal for the win. Polito Pieres scored five of his team-high nine goals on penalty shotsfor Villa Del Lago. De Lusarreta pickedup four goals in the losing effort.
Best Paying Pony honors went to Facundo Pieres’ Shelty.
Audi takes BobbyBarry Cup, 12-10
American 8-goaler Nic Roldan scored eight goals in leading atalented Audi lineup (Marc Ganzi, Lucas Lalor, Nic Roldan and Fred Mannix) to a12-10 win over Lechuza (Luis de Borbon, Marcos Alberdi, Juan Martin Nero andTomas Goti) in the Bobby Barry Memorial Cup, the subsidiary of the Joe BarryCup.
Audi took the early lead on a goal from team captain MarcGanzi, 1-0, three minutes into the game. Tomas Goti converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal to tie the gameat1-1. With 51 seconds on the clock, NicRoldan converted a 40-yard penalty shot to give Audi a 2-1 advantage.
Second period play saw Goti tie it at 2-2 on a goal from thefield, but Audi stormed back. Roldanadded two penalty goals and Fred Mannix scored a goal from the field. At the end of two periods, Audi led, 5-2.
Two minutes into the third chukker, Argentine 10-goaler JuanMartin Nero scored a goal from the field, cutting the Audi lead back to twogoals, 5-3. Roldan converted a 30-yard penaltyshot for a goal a minute later and closed out the first half with a final goal thatput Audi on top of a 7-3 score.
Lechuza battled back in the fourth. Nero scored the first goal of the chukkerfrom the field, 7-4, and followed it up with a 40-yard penalty goal, 7-5. Goti connected on a nearside neck shot for agoal, cutting the Audi lead to a single goal, 7-6. Roldan countered with a 30-yard penalty shot fora goal and Mannix scored the closing goal of the period with just56seconds on theclock for a 9-6 Audi edge.
Fifth chukker goals by Nero (60-yard penalty goal) and MarcsAlberdi had Lechuza railing by a single goals once again, 9-8. Roldan scored ona cut shot from over 60-yards out as time expired. With one chukker remaining in regulationtime, Audi rode off the field with a two goal lead, 10-8.
Alberdi scored his second goal of the game in the opening30-seconds of the sixth period, 10-9. Roldan answered with a 30-yard penaltygoal, 11-9. Ganzi added his second goal of the game, 12-9, as a desperateLechuza team struggled to stay alive. Nero scored the final goal of the game with a minute on the clock, but wasunable to get any closer as Audi celebrated the 12-10 win.
Roldan led all scoring with eight goals six on penaltyshots), and was named MVP. . Mannix and Ganzi scored two goals apiece for the victory. Nero scored five times for Lechuza (twoon penalty conversions). Goti wascredited with three goals and Alberdi scored twice in the loss.